HCRA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP REGATTA
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaiian Canoe Club kids and masters coach Paul Kauhane Luuwai kept track of points during the HCRA State Championship at Keehi Lagoon yesterday. Maui-based Hawaiian -- the seven-time defending state champion -- and Lanikai Canoe Club were within points of each other for the overall state championship title, with Lanikai winning with 355 points over Hawaiian's 352. Lanikai was awarded the title in darkness after officials reviewed several races and determined Lanikai and Hawaiian were disqualified from one race each.
|
|
It’s Lanikai, by a whisker
Hawaiian's seven-year reign comes to an end, but not without questions
Elation for winning clubs and crews at the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship Regatta yesterday degenerated slowly into confusion and discontent at Keehi Lagoon as controversial disqualifications altered the tone of the annual contest.
Lanikai Canoe Club was initially believed to have won the overall title over seven-time defending champion Hawaiian Canoe Club of Maui, but officials reviewed film of two races for more than an hour, eventually deciding that Lanikai's men novice A and Hawaiian's women masters 40 teams were DQ'd for hitting a flag and a false start, respectively.
The two rulings turned out to be a near wash and Lanikai held on to win in the AAAA (21-39 clubs entered) division, 355-352, over Hawaiian in what was otherwise a nail-biting finish that came down to the last of 39 races on the day.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Lanikai Canoe Club won the men's senior race. In the canoe for Lanikai were Karel Tresnak, Jim Foti, Jack Roney, Mike Judd, John Foti and Kai Bartlett.
|
|
First-year Lanikai coach Tom Conner was initially happy after his men masters 40 crew finished close enough to Hawaiian in the last race (sixth place to Hawaiian's fifth) to ensure what he hoped was a done deal. His mood -- and that of dozens of other coaches and paddlers who anxiously awaited HCRA's decision into the darkness -- gradually soured.
"The paddlers who did well and won races are happy, but I don't think any of the coaches are happy with the way things transpired here at the end," Conner said. "You can't be happy about it, for your paddlers who got disqualified. It's somewhere between a hollow victory and Pyrrhic victory. We won, but how did we win it? The officials won it for us. That's how I feel."
Things were equally dissatisfying for veteran Hawaiian coach Diane Ho -- she was of the mind that Lanikai should have won things fairly before the protracted review.
"Lanikai still won the state championship," she said. "It's fine, nothing we can do about that. But this is different. We had a really good crew in the water. The videotape was inconclusive ... there's no way to challenge that. They did a really, really good job, it's just a hard way to go. I believe my crew (who say it was a legitimate start)."
Ho stopped short of criticizing the race officials, but Conner said, "Some things need to be cleaned up to make it more clear-cut that there's winners, and second, third, fourth places."
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaiian Canoe Club members cheered their men's masters team during the day's final event.
|
|
Hawaiian surged for the early standings lead by winning the first three events -- the girls, boys, and mixed 12 -- and five of the first 10. Lanikai trailed by as many as 40 points, but momentum swung when the Windward Oahu-based club swept the men's freshman, sophomore, junior and senior events. It became a war of attrition from that point, with Lanikai placing higher overall near the end of the day despite neither club winning any of the final dozen events.
Kailua Canoe Club finished third overall with 274 points.
Puna Canoe Club of the Big Island was docked the AAA (13-20) title when its mixed men and women's team -- which finished in ninth place -- was disqualified and six points were subtracted from their overall score. Their total of 160 after the DQ turned out to be five points behind winner Kai Opua, a fellow Moku O Hawaii Outrigger Canoe Racing Association club.
Puna coach Afa Tuaolo, with the program for 15 years, threw up his hands at the decision and walked away from the officials' pavilion in frustration and disappointment.
Still, it was a good day for MHOCRA. Keauhou Canoe Club, also of Moku, surged from behind to overtake Na Ohana O Na Hui Wa'a champion Kaneohe late in the day to claim the AA (7-12 crews) title with 151 points over Kaneohe's 132.
And Moku's Kawaihae Canoe Club took the A (1-6 crews) class with 48 points over 42 from league-mate Keoua Canoe Club.